Deserted Hope
by Dapthedestroyer
Summary: Dapnee Williams, left for dead by her father for all she knows, embarks on a journey to find him, and what exactly is outside in this big world beyond 101. OCxOC T unless I jump to heavy romance.
1. Chapter 1: Lose Of Innocence

Chp. 1: Lost Is Innocence

The large door had shut loudly behind her. So giant it had dwarfed everything else she knew of the world. But everything of that world was broken. Her mind still reeled at it. Trying to pick at the pieces, make sense of everything, when she couldn't.

Memories she couldn't quite remember now floated to the front, calling attention; Important in their own.

A year or so old, her father bouncing her on his leg, smiling, reading to her a vault issued book, **You're SPECIAL**!. He beamed at her as she sucked her thumb, telling her she was very perceptive, lucky, agile, and intelligent. And yet she could endure much, he chuckled and told her she wouldn't be too strong, or very charismatic. Flash forward, receiving her first Pip-boy at age ten, an older, more reliable model than what every other kid had, and her father's old B-b gun, and being bullied over for a sweet roll by the vault bully Butch. More further, taking on the tunnel snakes, stopping the bullying her and Amata had suffered for most of their days, then taking the G.O.A.T, being told her skills were suited for being a pedicurist. A cushy, average life down in Vault 101.

But now she stared at the door, the immovable vault bulkhead, envying everything of the people inside. At her feet she could see the same feeling was shared, signs of desperate people who never entered the safety of the door. No one alive to be found, not even her father.

_Why screw up this life? Run off, leaving me for the guards to kill?_ She had to take their lives, and she could still see their faces. She'd known them only superficially, but it was hard to protect herself from them without ending their lives. And then Butch.

'"You have to help me!' He'd cried, grabbing her and recoiling at the blood covering her arms and clothing. "My mom."'

But it was too late, she laid on the ground, covered in a mound of snapping radroaches, dead. Just like Jonas. Lost. She'd ran away from him.

Amata was there at the end, opening the bulkhead, whispering, "You need to leave now, good bye Dapnee." Tears ran from her eyes.

And here she was. Nineteen years or so old, standing on the opposite side of salvation, all her life was over. Now all she could do, was try and pick the pieces, and answer her question.

_What was worth leaving the vault, or more importantly, her?_

And so, with tears still coursing from her eyes, blood splattered over herself, she shoved off. BB gun on back, bat in hand, she walked to the smaller wooden door, pushing it with little effort.

Light invaded the dark cave, blinding her. Nothing had been this bright and unforgiving. Someone must of messed with the settings.

But no. Overhead was endless, no ceiling, just blue falling over blue, never ending. A big yellow bulb of light hung high above. The sky, and the sun, alien. Things she was told of. Fathomable to someone who'd never seen it, the equivalent to a blind man finding colors and shape in the end of his ailment.

The girl's eyes adjusted, all around was open. Dirt and little vegetation. No lakes, no grass, almost nothing. A large metal structure stood off in the distance. Different from its surroundings. 'Possibly where dad went? Close to home?' What little did that matter? It was certainly somewhere to start.

She began sliding down the slopes, dirt kicking in the air in her wake, becoming closer and closer to the structure. Nothing would stop her; For all she knew, it could make everything go back to normal, finding James, her father, and returning home. Away from this wasteland, back inside the vault. She could already taste the good filtered air now.

Pains surged from her leg, she cried out it agony as it continued. A very large, furless rat hung to her right leg, sinking its large gangly teeth into her flesh. Ripping and tearing, eating her.

**Whack!** Her bat connected to its head, a crack noise from the bone crushing emanated from it. It released its hold and stumbled back. Again, still it stood up, two more strikes and it fell over, unmoving, dead. Good and dead.

She trudged on, the wound hurting and causing her to limp, she couldn't stop now. The place was closer. Another of the things jumped out, but she was ready this time. Her arms threw as much strength into her swing and the thing went flying overhead.

The sun was approaching the horizon to her left as she reached the metallic structure she was headed toward. She was tired, thirsty, hungry, and her leg stung. Before the entrance, she collapsed, taking out some bandages and one of her five stim-paks, administering it to her leg, feeling it numb and covered it.

A gate led in, a protectron kindly greeted her as she went past it, "Welcome to Megaton, the bomb is perfectly safe."

* * *

_AN: I re-edited this, mainly due to an error I hadn't known of until watching walkthroughs. I had made Dapnee the wrong age. I'm somewhat glad the game has 19 as the age for our lone wanderers, seeing as I enjoy writing my OC at this age (OC as in, she had nothing to do with this story until after I tweaked her quite a bit). Any ways, welcome back to the story some of you, and welcome to the story the rest of you! I'm your kindly writer Dapnee, and I shall bring you for a ride. This day in age, I'm not always on a computer, and sometimes when I update, it will be way early in the mornings. So leave an alert if you would llike to follow along._

_In other news, I restarted this up and have about four additional chapters than the 14 I had (they had only reached the GNR plot until the certain people decided to force some change into our protagonists world). So please know this story may feel all over the place, considering I need to edit some portions of the original story and add in the new chapters. Any inconsistancies are gladly fixed if any of you can send me a PM (take all the space you need to do that)._

_Anon reviews are open, so any feed back is acceptable. I haven't seen any flammers yet, but that could always change. So feel free to get down an nasty with this if you feel you need to get something off your chest. Suggestions, advice, and critique._

_Oh and P.S., I may write the as "teh" or other words may go missing. I try to have a copy of the story in my Kindle in order to read for these, so please don't worry about that._

_Well, have fun reading, next chapter has been up for less than a week, so feel free to chew on that for now._


	2. Chapter 2: Runaways

Chp. 2: Runaways

The town of Megaton was a spiraling paradise compared to the wasteland surrounding it. Humans, real, unmutated men and women eagerly waved at her as she slipped by. Nothing like how the overseer had made them out to be. Though the buildings seemed to have been created from salvage, she could tell it was all the people would consider there homes and lives being better for them. Staircases and scaffolding ran all around the city to get to the higher levels, all running around a bomb which laid in the middle of the city, probably the cause of the cratered ground. Men and women stood around it, one even seemed to be preaching to them from the water that was at the base of it.

A man in a cowboy hat and dusters walked up to her, she marveled at his grizzly but laid back appearance as he began to speak, "I'll be damned, you're from that vault, Vault 101." He laughed as if the thought brought back some found memory or two. "I ain't seen one of those jumpsuits in a long time."

The vaulty nodded, "I must stick out pretty well here, huh?"

"Stick out? Your hair is absolutely white!"

The vaulty patted her hair, smiling. "It was an accident, I just didn't care about changing it back."

He scratched the back of his head as if he didn't know how to exactly respond to that. "Well, welcome to Megaton little miss. I'm Lucas Simms, the mayor, or sheriff. Whatever is needed. I hope you haven't decided to make any trouble for us."

She shook her head, then remembered the large amounts of blood, her's, some guards, and the creatures that attacked her, and knew it did bring up the question. "I haven't planned on it. I'm Dapnee Williams, and I'm looking for my father, James Williams. Did you see him come through this way."

Lucas shook his own head at that, "Afraid I didn't. You're free to ask anyone around here if they know anything."

She shook his hand and thanked him. She walked down to the middle of the crater the city was built around and grab the first person she could find and asked the woman if she'd seen anyone who had walked through with a 101 jumpsuit. "No," she shook her head, "I haven't. You should try Moriarty's saloon, most strangers head through there."

The vault dweller nodded and gave her thanks as she headed in the direction she was pointed.

The roofs all lead to one another, and where there was open room below, there were walkways up above. The light was darkening as the girl looked down at the nuclear bomb the robot out front had spoken of, she watched a large gathering of people yelling and bowing to it. 'A weird type of people,' she thought as she made it to the building in which she saw the name Moriarty on. Opening the door, she noticed a great number of other people were also taking refuge inside, 'a nice idea', a yawn escaped her.

The bar was illuminated in a few lights, for what little that helped to improve. Most of the furniture was disheveled, as if they were found on chance and the owner had taken them in. A few other residents of the town stood around, many keeping to themselves and drinking away to their desires, but after a point, they would all walk out the door she had just entered, leaving the vaulty and the bar keeper.

The man leaned over the counter of the bar, lifting his head to see the vault girl come in, and then continued wiping the surface with his old tattered rag. The girl took to gawking, her mouth hung open as she stared at what she could only describe as being a walking corpse. The thing had continued working for another three minutes before sighing, "Are you going to stand there and stare, or are you going to buy something?" His voice described his skin perfectly, gravely like someone rubbed sand paper on it and then let it out in the rain and whatever else came it's way.

"... What are you?" the girl couldn't believe what she was saying.

The guy only rolled his eyes, "Your joke isn't very funny. Now take a seat and order a drink or buzz off."

After a minute of hesitation, the vaulty finally walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the few tattered bar stools. She continued staring, almost marveling at how he was able to exist in such shape, almost feeling like she should put him out of his misery... but he didn't seem to be bothered by his appearance, all he felt was annoyed by the way she kept staring at him.

"Collin put you up to th- oh." The thing had noticed her vault 101 suit, like everyone else in the town finally. 'Another one of these guys.'

"...oh?"

"Oh, you really have no idea what I am, do you."

"I'm kinda new to all this." She admitted, tapping her fingers on the top of the bar.

The thing chuckled, "Never had anyone ask me that before and mean it. We're a regular people, just with the unlucky exposure to high amounts of radiation. We go by the term ghouls, but most just call us zombies." He ran a cup under some water before continuing. "But we don't eat flesh or spread out...'mutation'. Unless you meet a feral, don't shoot us on sight please."

She was still tapping, "Would you happen to be Moriarty?"

"That I am not," he grumbled something under his breath as he picked up a glass that was under the bar and started cleaning that. "To tell you the truth, he's the guy you should be looking out for. I'm just the night bar keep or an 'assistant' when he comes around."

"Well then, who are you then?"

The walking dead looking man stopped for a minute, actually considering the fact this girl, white haired, vaulty, out of the ordinary girl had chosen that word, 'who'. "I'm Gob." He finally told her putting the glass down now and watched as she stared at one part of his arm there was a portion of bone exposed.

"I'm Dapnee, and I'm here looking for my dad." She gave a small smile at the man, not knowing how else she should act in this manner.

"Afraid I hadn't spoken to him. I did see a guy in that... same vault suit come in and go in the back with Moriarty, but I didn't catch what he told him before he ran back out."

"Please, anything you tell me could mean I could go back home sooner than later."

"Sorry kid," Gob leaned against the wall next to the cash register, "I didn't catch anything... and if I did, Moriarty would probably not want me to tell you anything."

"Okay then, so you could just go get him, right?"

"Look, smoothskin... you're a nice girl, but I wake Moriarty up and he'll rip my ghoul hide a new one. All I can suggest is that you try renting a room here and spending the night."

"Smoothskin?" She turned her head in curiously of the word.

"Well it's just a ghoul thing to say. We call all the, uh... un-irradiated folk."

She drummed her fingers on the counter again, "So I have to go find somewhere to stay for the night?" Her eyes flittered for a minute, forgetting how tired she actually was.

"Look," he whispered to her from across the counter, "I'll get you a deal here, but don't mention it to anyone or we're both as good as dead. You can sleep in one of the back rooms free for the night. I'll make sure I get you up before Collin gets here." He tried for a wink, only it looked like an involuntary eye twitch since didn't have much for eye lids anymore.

"Geeze Mr. Gob, thanks!" She smiled tiredly at the ghoul.

He shook his head, "It's just Gob."

"Just like I only go by Dap myself."

"Go get some rest kid."

She nodded politely and walked to one of the rooms cut off from the bar, where beds of similar dissaray as the furniture before it. But right then she couldn't of cared less as tiredness gripped at her body. She pull off her pack and BB gun, laying them on a side table, along with her pistol and fell to sleep on the mattress, the note of musk and dust the last before she drifted off.

No dreams attacked her that night, maybe she was just too tired for them. Gob shook her awake, light having just begun filtering through the saloons walls, giving a red shade to everything she could see.

"Collin'll be up soon, smoothskin. Might want to collect your stuff before then and be ready. I'm sure you'll be shoving off soon enough."

She nodded, sitting up in the bed and stretched. Her muscles ached as she did so, remembering how she'd never been one to walk more than needed in the vault before. Her bite marks under her ripped suit was red and puffy. She pulled out a rag and some disinfectant from her bag, the things she had grabbed before leaving her father's clinic office. She hissed as it stung, glad she had thought of grabbing the stuff.

She retook her stool at the bar, watching the ghoul, still trying to clean at the counter.

The sound of static hung in the air, the girl looked around for its source. A radio, battered by the elements, the glass shattered on the face of the frequencies it could turn to. She reached over to turn at the dial, only to have her hand slapped away. "It stays on Galaxy News Radio when I'm on shift." Gob stared down at her.

"Galaxy News Radio? It sounds like static to me." She pulled hand back.

The ghoul sighed, "Station went out about a few days ago. I've tried everything to this piece of junk, but it has to be the signal itself. Three-Dog was fun to listen to all night."

"Where's he at?"

"The old ruins of D.C. out that-a-ways," he stuck his thumb in the direction away from the town. "Big, broken down buildings belonging to the older power. Some are really strange, like that one monument with the man sitting, no head on his shoulders. I guess they're more like reminders now."

"The Lincoln Memorial?"

"Yeah, I think. Didn't really go near it at all when I lived down in Underworld."

"Underworld?"

"City of ghouls, made from the remains of the Museum of Nature. Can't really miss it, kinda one of the only places you can probably be safe from the mutants."

She went to say something else, only to have the saloon doors opened up wide, a man with graying hair came in, a Merc Charmer outfit on. He walked right up to Gob, ignoring the vaulty entirely. "Did you make anything last night." His voice reminded her of an accent she'd heard in a holotape once. Her father had told her it was Irish, which made no sense to her at the time.

"Not much," Gob almost whispered as he looked the other way, "Only person who bought anything was Jericho."

"Not even the lass over here?" He nodded toward Dapnee.

"Nah, she's just here to ask you something."

"Well then speak up girl, I'm a very busy man." He turned, folding his arms. An air of indifference filled the air around him.

'Not like I should of expected the people here not to have their share of mean people.' She put out her hand and smiled, hoping it'd amount to anything. "Hello, I'm Dapnee." Her hand retreated as the man stared at it. "I heard you may have some information on my father. He looks like me, but with brown hair."

"Ah," He smiled almost at her. "You aren't some kid who just found a vault suit. You're an honest to god vaulty. Whatcha doin' out here lass?"

She fummed, it was as if he didn't even hear her. "I'm looking for my father. I was wondering if you knew where he was."

"Aye, I do." He watched as she sighed. "But he's not here in this town anymore."

"Please tell me where he went. I don't want to be out here too long."

"That's information you're looking for, and out here, information cost caps lass. And by the way you look, you don't have any."

Dapnee shrugged slightly, "We never really had a currency in the vault, just vouchers. But bottle caps?"

"Yeah, a currency is a currency as long as the two accept it's worth. I could have you do me a job if you don't think you can earn yourself some caps."

The vault girl bit her lip. She usually had done this when she was thinking heavily. Her nickname of "Mouse" had begun from it, her front teeth and some of the other teeth being exposed as such of a mouse they had seen in a lesson in their lowest level of class. Not like half the other children remembered what it looked like, it was just a mean name they could call her if they wanted.

"What would the job be?"

Moriarty beamed with joy, "Oh nothing really. I used to have an 'employee' named Silver, who left to live somewhere out in the wastes. She still owes me a bit of caps and she probably didn't go to far away from the city yet. It should be just the right amount for information on your old man."

"I'll go see about that then." She nodded at him, standing up. She waved at Gob, not knowing how else to say goodbye to him as Moriarty began speaking to him. He only nodded as the saloon door closed behind her.

* * *

The scene outside of the Super-Duper Mart wasn't so pretty. Bodies of ghoul wastelanders laid in piles as a Raider band began work on their new base of destruction. One of the raiders in particular felt proud of himself. He wiped the drying blood on his combat knife on his pant leg and smirked. "Good riddance to them."

"Damn ghouls think they own this place." His friend patted him hard on the back and then handed him an inhaler of Jet. "Did good Tork, glad to see you can pull your own weight."

Tork pushed him away roughly, "It was nothing, just a few zombies."

"Tell you the truth," a female raider passed them, taking a drag from a cigarette she had found on one of the bodies, "I thought you were going to be a big ass pussy. Probably the hair that made me think that."

"Hey!" He touched the base of one of his green liberty spikes that ran in a line to the back of his head, his right eye only barely obscured by a few long strands of black hair. "The hair doesn't need to hear that from a slut like you."

"Oh I'm a slut." She took the cigarette and put it out on his arm, to which he yelped. "You're still a pussy."

"At least I can remember the last time I slept with someone!"

"Yeah right." She and the other raider laughed with each other, "Tiger, you wouldn't know cause you never have."

"Come on Cynth, we need to get the others and actually get this place set up for ourselves," the two walked off, Tork took some of his jet and followed behind the two, cursing at them under his breath.

* * *

Being back outside Megaton, Dapnee finally noticed how large of an area the outside world was. She'd been so preoccupied on reaching the small city that she hadn't thought of anything else. She hadn't noticed the dead plants, each somehow hanging on with only the irradiated water the rain left, dieing before going far enough in life to become an actual plant. It was a little less barren then she imagined, but everything around her didn't really help raise her hope. 'How the hell am I supposed to find my dad anywhere out here?' She sighed, pulling the bag on her back up further.

The robot again greeted her, telling about Craterside Supply this time, to which she smiled at it. Springvale, or the small town outside of Megaton, was a ghost town. She was surprised she had been attacked at all on her dash toward the metal city now seeing as no living soul was around her. Just her luck.

Near where there was a gas station she found two nukacola machines, each had four bottles inside and one even had three plain bottle caps laying in their trays. 'That much closer,' she smiled, putting the warmish bottles in her bag, leaving one out to drink from as she went back to looking for the house the woman Silver was.

One of the houses seemed to of been used recently, so she knocked on the door, not knowing much else to do. With no answer, she turned the nob and went in. She looked around, the table to her right still had a bowl of noodles sitting there."Silver?" She called.

A boot connected to her gut. Dapnee painfully exhaled and fell to the ground, she curled into a ball not knowing what else to do. Pressure on the back of her neck felt like someone had their foot against it. "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

"I was sent by Moriarty to find someone named Silver. If you're not her, I can just go." She wheezed, knowing saying anything else wouldn't help get her out of the situation.

"Why, are you his new collection girl?" The boot pressed harder.

"I just need the money lady, I'm sorry I came in here." She almost cried.

The woman didn't say anything for a while. Dap wondered if she would ever make it out of here after this. The pressure was removed and Dap sat up. "Well too bad. I earned that money kid, go get chewed on by a deathclaw. He just wants you to kill me." The woman folded her arms, looking down at her. Her hair was about the same shade of Dap's, but a little more blond.

"Kill you? He only told me you owed him caps."

"Well I don't. He thought I'd try and kill you or maybe you would kill me on your own. You better not be thinking like that either."

"You already handed me my ass, can't really say I should even consider something like that now."

"Smart girl, now scram." Silver walked over to where she had been eating before.

"What should I tell Moriarty?" Dap got up and tried dusting herself off.

"Tell him? You should just stop talking to that man. He's a cheat and a dirty liar. This is my share of when I was a slave to that man. If you know any good, you should just tell him you found me dead or something."

Dap nodded at her, not knowing what else to do. She fixed her bag and stepped out the door, hearing the woman exhale in relief.

The sun was pretty high up, and from what she had heard from vault school, that meant it was noon. Her stomach growled at her, having only soda inside of itself. She pulled out a box of Fancy Lad Cakes, which she had been saving in the vault for sometime. She pulled out one of the pastries and began eating until she heard the sound of gunshots. She put the box back in her bag and took the 10mm pistol Amata had given to her and went to go find what was making that noise.

Farther down the street, a group of strange looking people were attacking what looked like a giant monster. It's tail shot at one person and it flung the helpless man around before proceeding on another, it's claw snapping the others hand off. The screaming was almost as deafening as the gunshots, they would attract to much attention as it was, so Dap sat back and watched. She didn't trust herself fighting at all. She was still shaken from the blood still clinging to her from the day before.

The monster gave up only after it believed it was done with its attackers. It turned and left, the bodies just laying on the ground. Dapnee looked around, and prayed nothing had heard that show of aggression. She walked toward them, her gun in both hands incase something else came her way.

She couldn't believe what she was about to do. The bodies almost made her throw up, how badly disfigured some of them were. She sighed and put her hand into the ones closest pocket. 'If only my father can see me now,' she sighed again, finding nothing in the first pocket and went to riffle through a different one. Out she pulled a weird needle with liquid in it. Dap had never seen it before and only put it in her bag before looking through the others. When she had finished, she had a handful of chems, 25 caps, two assault riffles, and another 10mm pistol. She avoided their melee weapons almost entirely, unsure she'd ever even want to be that close to whatever was attacking her. She glanced once more at them before leaving. 'Just my luck.'

* * *

She dropped off at the small diner like place at Megaton, the Brass Lantern. She had opted for the bowl of noddles, seeing as everything else was from creatures she'd never heard of. She slurped the noodles up as she listened to the man beside the bomb. It sounded an awful lot like the church down in the vault, but instead of god and the overseer as the ones who watched over them all, it was the glow. She didn't understand it, but it was whatever these people followed, nothing she needed to bother herself with.

She paid for her food and sold off one of her assault riffles, making about 100 caps, which she rung around in her hand. She went to go back to Moriarty's Saloon when she remembered what the woman had said. 'Moriarty is using me. When he finds out I don't have her money, he's going to want something.' She decided she'd go through that hole afterward. It was already hitting night and she was already tired from her trip.

"Another one zombie." She heard from outside of the door. No way it was anyone she already knew. Opening the door, she was met with the scene of one of the strange clothed men from before holding Gob by the front of his shirt with his right sleeved arm, the man's shaved head was turning red, possibly from the alcohol, or the anger he had toward the ghoul he was shaking about. Gob was having trouble prying the mans hand off. "I told you," the man was now hiccuping as he continued on, "I want another round."

"And I told you you're too drunk and out of caps Jericho." Gob glared back at the tipsy man.

"I'll tell you when I want to stop, Mori-Moriarty always let me have a tab!"

"Well, Moriarty isn't here right now, and you may remember his 'no tabs' policy."

"Fuck you zombie!" He lifted his fist and went to punch the ghoul bar keeper.

Dap grabbed his arm, not wanting the man to begin a fist fight with anyone. "Dude, you're drunk." He swiveled around and tried his hardest to see who was stopping him from his drunken rage. The girl holding his arm seemed good enough to wail on. He let Gob go and went to throw a punch at her.

She ducked it and kicked him in the shin, to which he seemed not to care for. He went for another off balanced punch when he just fell over backwards and hit his head on the bar-stool he had just been sitting on. The man seemed to be dead, to which Dap had jumped away, her hands over her mouth. "It's fine smoothskin, he only knocked himself out."

"I can't believe he was going to punch you." She dropped her hands.

"Yeah, you're going to find those Raiders and wastelanders who think we're just zombies." Gob kicked Jericho with his foot, enjoying the payback to some extent.

"So he's a raider?" She didn't know what the term meant, but she supposed she would find out later.

"Jericho?" He gestured toward the man sleeping on the ground. "Nah, he gave up that part of his dark hate filled life years ago. He's an ex-Raider, someone who's given up their old raider life for a less exotic life. Too bad we kinda need him, or he'd be long gone by now."

She nodded, 'I guess it was a good idea to avoid those guys.'"Do you know where Moriarty is?"

Gob was behind the bar and had stopped moving at the sound of that name, "Did you kill her?"

"No," she shook her head, "I met her but she didn't give me the money. I did find some off the... raiders that where attacked by this giant thing with a giant tail."

"You watched a raider band get taken down by a giant radscorpion?"

"Yeah, and I got all of this," she almost pulled out the remaining dismantled assault riffle, until she thought better of it and took out the full syringe. "I have no idea what this is, but I'm sure it's worth some caps if it's medicinal."

"Whoa smoothskin, put that away. I don't sell or buy psycho." He had looked around before saying that, like someone might be overhearing them.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's a drug."

She stared at it a little longer. "Oh." She put it back in her bag, feeling a bit bad from doing that. "Well, I did get some caps and a few guns."

"I'm sure you could pawn those off somewhere else, I just can't really be buying weapons now, considering Collin probably would think something's up."

Silence fell for a bit before Dap sighed, "Shouldn't we move him?"

"Nah, he'll be fine down there, you should know he's going to blame you from this when he wakes up, and then he'll have his wits and a major hangover to get over."

She shuddered. "So can I spend the night here again, or am I going to have to pay?"

"Yeah, Collin chewed me out for that today. A hundred and twenty caps, I'll call Nova." He tipped his head back and yelled up to the second floor, "NOVA, SOMEONE'S HERE FOR YOU!"

"Gawd, just wake up everyone, why don't you Gob!" The woman appeared over the railing and yelled back down. "Oh, you're that sweet girl I heard about, come on up here."

They met at the top of the stairs, Dap wringing her hands, the woman smoking a slim cigarette. "What'd you need hon?"

Hon, the word almost stung at her heart. She could still remember her father comforting her over getting in a fight with Butch, a nice shiner on her face. His nickname for her somehow calming her then, now bothering how hollow it felt coming from this woman. Dap shook her head, "I was hoping for a room to just sleep in."

"That'll run you about 120 caps, but you don't seem to be the one looking for company."

The girl tilted her head, not getting what she said, "I just need somewhere to sleep tonight." She handed her the caps and Nova showed her to a room, a cabinet sat on one side as the only other piece of furniture besides the bed. She again dropped her bag and smaller items off beside the bed.

She laid there, burnt out on her short journey only between the town and Springvale. How would she ever get through the wastes if she couldn't even fight a woman. Sure, she was taken by surprise, but she could still remember the fear of dieing as she laid their on the ground crying. And now she had both Moriarty and Jericho to deal with when she woke up. 'My luck sucks.'

* * *

_AN: I apologize for not updating as fast I should be, I've had no computer recently. _

_Now for the actual story; This part almost never existed, Dap working for Moriarty and Tork wasn't mentioned until Dap stumble upon him. But this did give me some needed breathing room to explain somethings that needed to be addressed. This is the first half of the original second chapter, now broken into two. This is a better way of starting off the story than I previously had of Dap just running into the super duper mart and blasting away all the raiders (BAMF needs to be earned youngling *shakes finger*). And now Jericho has an actual reason to interact in the story later on._  
_Dap really doesn't get what's going on out here, she still has her "vault puppy fat" as it needs to be pointed out, Tork is aspiring to join this band of Raiders after his previous group kicked him out for only doing Jet and nothing else, kicking him into overdrive to prove himself._ _I do have some more action ready but I have to break Dap of her scaredy pants ways, since she's gone through killing most of the security personnel in the Vault. She should also think of changing out of her old suit *holds nose* the thing's in shreds almost! _


	3. Chapter 3: Sickness of Humans

Chapter 3: Sickness of Humans

She woke with a slight headache. Unlike Gob, Nova had allowed her to sleep the entire night and well into the next day. Dap stretched and immediatly felt her stomach call out to her for food and water. She made short work of the fancy lad cakes before grabbing her things and going downstairs. Nova waved to her as she sat at a table beside the door. Gob was nowhere to be seen, possibly off doing something for Moriarty for all Dapnee knew.

"Oh Vault Lass! I heard you stumbled upon some interesting wares recently." Collin waved her over to the counter, a large grin on his face. 'A liar and a cheat.' The words circled her head as she took her seat.

"You mean the ch-"

"SHHHH!" The fifty year-old shushed her, looking around the saloon, sighing as he saw no one was there to hear him, "I can't have you saying that word. They're... aid boosters, you get me lass?" She nodded her head. "Now we can talk about them later, let's get down to talking about Silver, shall we."

Dap gulped. 'I hadn't thought about what to say yet!' "Well, I came into this one house and found this one lady on the ground, a bullet in her head. She had some blond hair that was almost the same shade as mine. I checked the whole place, but she must of been hit by some Raiders, cause she didn't have anything left."

Collin rubbed his chin. 'He knows!' Her mind screamed as the time seemed to stretch. "Yeah," he finally said, resting his hands on the table. "I told the poor girl that running off like that would only see to her end. People don't take me as seriously as they should." He shook his head, smiling.

The lump in her chest lifted after hearing that. "So then I guess you would still want me to pay for the information."

He nodded, "Two hundred sounds fair enough."

Her heart sank, "I don't even have that much."

"Well too bad, I'm sure those health boosters would help you get there." Dap put her hand on her bag, thinking of the bottles and needles full of chems inside it. She was conflicted on whether or not sell them. Getting money on them would mean that she could find her father faster... but make her feel sick in doing so. 'This stuff is too dangerous to sell,' she finally thought.

"I'm sorry Mr. Moriarty, but I'm going to have to say no."

"Fine by me lass. I just hope you find dear old dad soon." He laughed as she walked out the door.

She looked over the railing overlooking the bomb right outside the saloon, sighing as she watched the same man from all three days still shouting for the others to listen to him. A hand fell on her shoulder, Dap turned to find it was Nova. "Moriarty's an ass." The older woman smiled down at her, "I'm sure you'll do good."

"Yeah," Dap sighed not believing her one bit.

"I hate to say I can't help you in terms of Collin in there," Nova stood beside her bending over the railing, another unlit cigarette in between her fingers. "Though I am glad you declined his offer on the... chems. Your father should know his kid can take care of herself quite well... I can point you to some work if you're up to it still."

"What kind of work?" She bit her lip, seeing the only way she could start searching for her father was to at least get some caps for food and water. 'I hope dad isn't having as much trouble as me.'

"A nice woman, Moira Brown," She pointed to the building with a globe ontop of it. "She was looking for someone to do some odd jobs for her last time I checked. A nice amount of caps to get you on your way. She's also the person you want to see about anything money can buy."

"Gee, thanks Nova."

"Don't mention it ghost." She lit up and walked off to finish her smoke somewhere else.

Dapnee chuckled. 'Ghost? What's with everyone and their nicknames here?' She tossed that around her head as she made her way to the store. The door to Crater Side Supply clicked open with only one turn of the knob. The vault girl poked her head in and looked around. The sun broke in as the opening widened as she came in. She shut the door behind her.

All that there was inside was a man, but he stayed in one corner of the store, watching her. She guessed he was a guard, seeing his assault riffle slung over his shoulder. Everything else that was in the room were a few nick-nacks laying about on a counter and a table with food on it. "Hello?" No answer sounded back. She took another step forward, "Moira Brown?"

Someone hushed her from a different room to her right. Dap shrugged and checked inside the room. On the far end of the room was a woman, squatting down low. Her brown hair tied up in a bun, a technition jumpsuit on, taking notes on a notepad, her tongue sticking out. Oh. And a radroach fighting a molerat, right in front of her.

'How the hell could she just watch these things fight, let alone in her own shop?' Dap now folded her arms across her chest and watched. Placing bets in her mind on which would win. 'The molerat would probably win, so she put staying on it losing. But to that idea, the creatures both began glowing faintly, the molerat grew a second tail, while the radroach grew larger than its predosesor. It easily leaned over and snapped off the mole rats head. 'So long for that idea.'

The woman took out a knife and stabbed the 'mega'radroach in the head. Green and black blood squeezed out and covered the womans hand. She hurridly wrote something down.

"Heh, radiation causes radroachs to explode when punctured." The woman mused.

"Why have them fight if that's all you're researching?" Dap laughed quietly, leaning on the doorway.

"Just testing radiations affect on certain creatures, found something more interesting!" The older woman smiled up at her. Then her face turned to interest of Dap's attire, oohing at the pip-boy still strapped to her left arm."

"Would I be crazy to assume you're Moira Brown?"

"Would I be crazy if I thought you were me too? Like a doppleganger, or - OH! Like my future self!" She jumped up and down, looking Dap over. To which Dap wondered how safe it was to take a job from this woman. She seemed to forget a little too easilly of the two radiation dripping corpses.

"Well Moira," Dapnee tried to continue as the woman seemed to be dazzing off to somewhere. "I heard that you might have a need for someone."

The woman bounced even more in joy, "Someone refered you? Oh yay! You'd help out with my book just on a whim like that? Aaaaaweee." She put a hand to her heart like it warmed from the thought. "So what got you excited about my little book?"

"I didn't know about the book. Would that mean you're looking for research? I could do that."

Moiras eyes brightened, "Well, what are your credentials?"

"Well, umm. I passed with B's for fifteen years of school."

"School?" The woman scratched at her head.

"Well I guess vault citizen won't be acceptable then." Dap said under her breath.

"Oh!" Moira shot back to her happy disposition, "You're that stray from the vault! You'll be perfect for the job then."

'Gawd,' Dap watched as the woman bounced about the store, oblivous to the looks her and the guard were giving. 'I wonder if that woman spilled some of that toxic waste on herself.'

"Okay," Moira held out her notepad, poised to write. "The Wasteland Survival Guide is going to help the average Joe or Jane out there with keeping their wits about the dangers and rewards of day to day survival!" She began giggling as she though of something. "So as a prolouge and epilouge, I want to show how far you've gotten on your adventures."

Dap nodded, she couldn't see herself finishing the book. She'd get, what, 100-2000 caps from Moira's employership and whatever else she found, then she'd be off to god knows where to look for her father. But the silent promise seemed to please the woman.

So when you first got out here, what was your first thoughts?"

Dap Snickered, "I wondered hou you guys got the ceiling so damn high, until I remembered that was the sky."

Moira began laughing along, "You can say it took quite awhile to get that installed."

And the questions continued, Dap answering them more scientifically and truthful. She'd warmed up to the shopkeeper. She almost felt kind of bad for categorizing the woman as a loon so fast.

"Okay!" Moira closed the notepad and smiled toward Dap, "First Chapter, you ready to start?"

Dap nodded, "Let's see how bad these wastes can be."

"We'll only be going over the basics from here, like looking for essentials, food, water and medicine. Then a medical overlook on radiation poisoning. Following up, what to and not do around landmines. Which one do you want to over first?"

"I know I'm going to somewhat kill myself over this," she bit her lip, "But what's this about radiation poisoning?"

"Starting with the easy one, aren't we." Moira ducked under her counter and pulled out three pitchers of the foulest water Dap had ever seen. Each had things floating in them, the water almost to murky to pick out even more of the things floating in the radiotactive cocktails. "All you have to do is drink all three of these pitchers, tell me how you feel, and I'll get you back to being as unirradiated as a new born baby!"

Dap licked her lips, 'sure was thirsty a minute ago.' She picked up one of the pitchers and stared at it. She could almost smell the stench of the nuclear waste that had found its way into this water. She steeled herself, 'I won't do it if I keep making up reasons it's not good.' She tipped the pitcher back-

And almost immediatley gagged. The water tasted foul and some type of sediments and what not entered her throat in that one gulp. Her pip-boys geiger meter cracked at the water, her mind almost kicking her for even considering this. 'It's for dad,' she thought, pulling the pitcher back up. She finished the pitcher in about two minutes. A terrible after taste filled her mouth, like she bit her tongue and it was bleeding. She almost felt her headache strengthen, but she tried to ignore that as she concentrated on the next pitcher.

Another five minutes passed and she had finished the second pitcher and half of the third. Her stomach was turning over on itself, the cakes feeling like they had turned to nothing to allow the water to eat at her stomach. She couldn't question it, but the headache worsened to the point that when she placed the pitcher back down, the sound of the glass clanging shot pain through her skull. She gulped the last few drops as fast as she could.

"So, how do you feel?" Moira had a hand on her shoulder, taking note as the vault girl almost cringed over her voice.

The valut girl went to open her mouth and say, 'Like all my genes are crying all at once,' but her tongue had swollen to a great size, leaving only the sound of, "Lipe meh means areth crayin."

"Oh dear, seems there may of been something you're alergic to in the water." Moira wrote that down in her notepad. "Good thing you're only showing a minor reaction toward it!" Dapnee glared at her as the room seemed to sway before her. "Now let's go try out my new rad away recipe that should only take one dose to get all that nasty radiation out of you!"

Dap wouldn't of known what the procedure had entailed since she blacked out around this time. She was still moving but she had no recollection of what occurred after being nudged to a room out of the way.

She awoke at one point, her tongue a more manageable size, her throat burning, and her head feeling like it had bricks weighing down on it. Moira was there and sitting at the edge of the couch she had her on, a blanket over her. Dap took the bottled water she handed her and drank it down faster than ever. 'Why am I so thirsty?' she thought throwing the bottle away.

"Good to see my cure works." Moira tried to sound cheery, even if there was a hint of regret in her tone. "You were puking up chunks there, the reason you're feeling discomfort in your throat."

"The things I do for science," Dap tried to cough out.

Moira handed her another bottle, "Oh and you've been out for awhile, it's the next day already."

Dap's mouth hung open, "You can't be serious." She nodded her head. The vaulty slammed her head on the arm of the chair, "Remind me never to drink or eat anything you went to the trouble of getting." She mumbled onto the fabric.

* * *

Avoiding Moira for the rest of the day, Dapnee went to go find some food. The sun hung high over the city now as she sat down at the Brass Lantern once more. Jenny Stahl was trying to get her to try something different than the noodles she kept buying. "Come on, you're going to get sick of noodles if you keep eating them! Here," She pulled out what looked like a small rodent... on a stick, "Try eating this."

"... what is it?" Dapnee slowly shifted away from it on her seat.

"It's a squirrel on a stick. It's on the house as long as you at least try a bite."

Reluntantly, she grabbed it and smelled it. It didn't smell bad, almost a little good, but it was an animal killed recently. Though she wasn't against it, remembering how she had been attacked by two just after leaving the vault. It just didn't feel right eating something that hadn't been packaged for years on end. Taking a bite, she found the smell hadn't lied. She almost felt bad for the cooks down in the vault for not being able to cook these.

"I have to admit, I was wrong on that. Thanks Jenny." She was just finishing it off.

"Well, just make sure you don't go hungry, that's my j-"

"THERE you are!" She was turned around suddenly. The bald man Jericho was standing over her, pure hate spread on his face. "You're the punk from the vault that got a sucker punch on me! She dropped the stick the squirrel was once on to the ground and yelped. "What, can't take me now that I'm not drunk?"

She couldn't think of what to say to him, she wouldn't of known what to do if she threw a threat and whatever she apologized with would only make him angier. She just shut her mouth.

"Oh, I know this look." He still had a hand on her shoulder, "It's the 'I know I screwed up and now I can only act tough to get out of it' look. See this," he lifted his fist. He'd put on silver colored brass knuckles and was wearing on his right fist. "I just had this idea we'd discuss this out back."

"Jericho!" Jenny finally stepped in and was standing right next to the two. "Do NOT make me go get Simms again."

The ex-Raider scratched his head, not knowing how to respond to that. "Well, this time's different. I'm only going to beat her up, maybe a punch..."

Jenny slammed her foot on the ground and looked at the man with all the hate she could muster. "You don't scare me anymore Jericho, espically now that it's day and everyone is already looking." Sure enough, as they looked about, everyone in earshot was watching the spectical happening right in the middle of town. No one hid that they were watching, only being boded on to further watch due to the fact they were already included into the conversation now.

Another man showed up behind Jericho and put his hand on his shoulder. "Jerry, you already proved the point you can keep a grudge, just leave the girl alone."

Jericho looked around one more time before he shook his head and let Dapnee go. "Just remember, I don't like you vault rat." He stormed off as if it were manly enough endevour. The town began moving again, the citizens disapointed that violence hadn't been achieved. Dap let out the gasp of breath she had been holding on to for those few minutes.

"Thanks..."

"Billy Creel, and no. A thank you is not necissary. Jericho shouldn't of put a finger on you at all in the first place. No matter what you did." Billy was somewhat taller than her, wearing an eyepatch and a headwrap. His goatee moved as he spoke. "I hope it wasn't anything too bad."

Dap rubbed the back of her head and smiled shyly, "Might of... knocked him out. Not really my fault, but he still thinks I did. I'm Dapnee by the way."

He nodded, "Just make sure you don't get into any of his business, he'll be cranky for the remainder of your life over it. Good luck finding your dad." He nodded to Jenny and left to walk over one of the rises of the crater.

Dap turned back to Jenny herself. "How did he know?"

The woman laughed, "Do you see how small this town is? One person gossips and then they gossip with two others and then we get here where the whole town knows exactly about everything. Sometimes not the greatest things... but you get used to it."

The vaulty joined in the laugh, glad for the tention breaker, "I should of guessed. The vault was the same exact way." Jenny showed interest in what she had to say, so Dap continued "Many people tried saying me and Butch were dating, maybe something worse, right behind our backs. But we only interacted as much as needed, no more, no less. I almost clobbered him a few times, just to get the point across when the local gang decided to even pick on their own leader with that junk. Poor Butch." She drifted there for a bit, thinking of the roaches. All of the roaches.

_'Butch grabbed me, recoiling in horror of the blood that covered my vault 101 suit. He'd never seen that much, even after the many fights he had gotten into. "You have to help me!" He cried. He didn't want to cry, he didn't want to show the girl he hated the most in the vault the emotion of sadness and fear to the girl who everyone tried to avoid. "My mom, the roaches are chewing her up. I can't help her. Do something!"_

_'"I'm sorry Butch," I try telling him off, knowing I'll be away for some time and out of his reprissal area, "I have no time for you right now."_

_'"You have to!" He begs, almost kneeling down in front of me, admitting everything he tried to hold back. "I know I, all the Tunnel Snakes... the entire freaking Vault hasn't been to kind to you. I'm sorry, but you have to help me! Here!" He took off his jacket and hands it to me. I draw a blank almost to why he's doing that. "You can be in the Tunnel Snakes, no initation, no need to do anything with us. Just help my mom!"_

_'I nod after a minute and go into the Deloria's apartment. It's too dark to see and some of the roaches are in the first room. I slam my bat into three of them, not finding his mother. Then a scream. I run into the next room to see the roaches had fully swarmed her and were begining to eat her. I try nudging them off, only to get off three before the woman collapses. The roaches claimed her once again. I slam my bat on her body, knowing full well she would no longer feel the crack as her bones and the creatures died._

_'"Mom!" Butch comes in, finds her on the ground, bleeding, roach guts staining her from head to toe, one of her eyes ripped from its socket, dangling. Butch falls on his knees looking down on her before he turns to me, pure hate on his face. "I fucking hate you, you coward! I hope you get eaten out there!"_

_'"Butch," I put out my hand trying to comfort him, not knowing the full extent of losing a mother. "I tried to save her but she was already gone."_

_'"Get out! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" My mouth gapes at him as he goes back to looking at his mother. He rubs her cheek with the back of his hand, I can hear him sobbing. I leave with the sound of tears trailing toward my ears as I run. 'What if this is how I find my dad? Who would I be yelling at for that? Where could I place my hate and anguish on the person who was nearest when I find him?''_

Snapping out of the memory, Dap sat there, wondering if she said all of that aloud as she felt Jenny staring at her. "Sorry. I was just thinking of someone that died recently. All my fault."

Jenny shook her head, "Go ahead, not like any one is going to be frightened away from a traveler thinking of older times."

Dap thanked her, leaving the money she owed to the woman and turned back to Craterside Supply, reknewed vigour toward her goal.

* * *

_AN: May or may not be my last chapter for awhile. I hate leaving you all like this. I mainly wrote this up as fast as I could so you guys could have something else to chew on over the winter break. _

_I always wondered if I should go back and see if I could take portions of the escape and make them pieces for Dap to remember along the way, rather than just saying them out right. I somewhat enjoy the dynamic it gives, only up to you guys to tell me if you like these flash backs._

_Good luck tomorrow *wink*_


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